The Power of Humor

“For reasons that are unfair, women have a bigger mountain to climb in terms of humor in the work place. A guy can still say an inappropriate joke at work and get a laugh. A women tells the same joke and not only is it inappropriate, it’s shocking!”

Hosted in the beautiful surroundings of the United States Mission to the European Union, 30 hyper-talented Leadarisers had the opportunity to hear stories from the life and career of Eric Schnure, Co-founder of The Humor Cabinet, who teaches speechwriting at Johns Hopkins University.

Among his many dazzling achievements, he has worked previously as a White House Speechwriter to Vice-President Al Gore, and Chief Speechwriter and Senior Communications Advisor at NASA. His clients include prominent elected officials, Fortune 500 executives, leading non-profits, and popular entertainers.

Eric Schnure talking to Leadarise in Brussels

Here are some of our favourite lessons from this truly unique evening with Washington’s “go-to guy for political humor”.

On speechwriting:

Laughter and a story that is deeply meaningful to your audience are powerful

The audience need to know that you’re not going to bomb in front of them

Humor is at its best when pointed back at yourself

Make the complex simple

Great speeches are won in the research

On career:

If someone opens a door for you, gives you contacts and advice, do the same for others

Be just the right amount of persistent and a pain

Be prepared, or never let it show that you are unprepared!

Your thoughts

For more info on Leadarise events encouraging young women professionals and entrepreneurs to realise their leadership potential, you can follow us on facebook/leadarise or twitter @leadarise.

This event was brought to you by 8 young professional volunteers, the U.S. Mission team and moderated by Laura Hemmati and Carmen Vera Garcia.